Paddle Meals

Building a whale of an appetite

From the Summer 2010 issue of Coast&Kayak Magazine. Read the entire magazine online.

Paddling in the Sea of Cortez provides a palette of wonderful sights, sounds, textures, smells and flavors. These senses rule my daily life while guiding kayak expeditions; they become the rhythm and tempo that shapes each day. This environment inspires me to explore with openness and to make spontaneous and intuitive decisions, especially when we paddle in the spring with an abundance of actively feeding marine life. Some mornings we wake to huge “boils” of sardines (or other bait fish), with blue-footed boobies, royal turns and pelicans diving into the water in a feeding frenzy. Sometimes while crossing open water to different islands we see blue whales, the largest whales in the world, feeding on krill. Occasionally, our group of paddlers clearly hears the explosive breathing of distant whales as we get an early start on calm seas. These wildlife experiences can shape our route as we make changes to accommodate whatever nature throws at us.

One day this spring I was guiding a group around Danzante Island, planning to stay there two nights before heading down the Baja coast. Waking to calm seas, whales could be heard clearly from our campsite. After seeing them spouting in the channel, we finished our fresh fruit smoothie and packed up our boats in record time. It’s amazing how easy packing is when motivated to get out on the water with the whales! Once on the water, we paddled along Danzante and collectively decided to head across the channel to Carmen Island. This put us in the right place at the right time as a mother and calf fin whale surfaced near our boats. We could almost smell their fishy breath, enriching our senses and prompting us to speculate about what the whales were feeding on.

After such a classic Baja morning, we were keen to sample our locally smoked yellow-tail, a large tuna-like fish of the mackerel family. After setting up the beach kitchen, smoked yellow-tail wraps with pineapple salsa was promptly prepared. The group was pleased with the change in plans, having had a close encounter with whales and a scrumptious lunch.

With daily use of our SPOT GPS unit, providing our position to a pre-identified email list, we have occasionally enjoyed a surprise visit from our other guides. This was the case later in the day when our group got an unexpected visitor bearing fresh prawns and chilled refreshments, so yet another change to our meal plan was in order. Dinner turned into penne and prawn pasta with red pepper and chipotle cream sauce. This was a simple, quick and flavorful recipe to whip up on the beach.

Spontaneity in meal planning allows for culinary experiments which invariably results in well-fed and happy paddlers.

Penne and Prawns with Red Pepper Chipotle Cream Sauce

Bring six cups of fresh water with a pinch of salt to a rolling boil; add pasta and turn your camp stove down to a simmer.

When “el dente,” remove from heat. To drain pasta on the beach make sure you have a tightly fitting lid and hot mitts. Every camp kitchen is complete with a good pair of leather gardening gloves which help when tipping pots over in the tide line to drain the pasta water.

Ingredients:

450 grams Penne Pasta (to feed six paddlers)

600 grams medium sized prawns peeled and de-veined if necessary

500 grams sour cream

5 tablespoons chipotle sauce (add more if desired)

1 onion diced

6-8 cloves of garlic chopped

3 large red peppers diced

Saute the onion, garlic, and red peppers in oil until the red peppers are nice and soft and breaking down to create the sauce. At this point add the prawns and quickly sauté as they don’t need much cooking. When this is done add the sour cream and chipotle sauce to the mixture and stir to create a light red creamy sauce. This is then added to the cooked penne pasta by folding it in to mix well and coat the inside and outside of the penne. Add salt and pepper to taste and this easy meal is complete.

A great accompaniment is sliced veggies such as jicama (a crunchy mainstay that keeps well in kayaks), cucumber and carrots to make for a crunchy bite. As always, guacamole is a main staple for an appetizer, along with the sliced veggies and a generous squeeze of lime over top. Enjoy and happy paddling!

Hilary Masson is a guide and part owner of Baja Kayak Adventures.